Two totally inconspicuous kids who are so not causing trouble { { C L O S E D } }

Taleis laughed and said, "Security's totally crap. He had to admit, it was kind of fun to talk about stupid stuff that didn't require any thinking. It was much better than having to dwell in his thoughts because he did think too much.

"So, what're you guys doing in New York?" Taleis asked, only mildly curious. Still, he hadn't seen them in a while, but he didn't exactly want to spend much time talking to them; just catch up a bit, and then leave.

"Family vacation. Just barely convinced my parents to let Mark and Elliott come along," Joe said chuckling.

Taleis rolled his eyes slightly before saying, "Well, Aidan and I have to go. We want to do as much as possible. Who knows, they might tighten up on security after this." He made a face as if it should be obvious that they wouldn't before he turned around and started making his way to the door, walking far more confidently than he had on his way in.

With a soft laugh at Aidan's overly-exaggerated accent, Taleis threw his arm over Aidan's shoulder. "Come on, my nerdy friend. We have a movie to catch. How about we split the ticket cost because neither of us got anything? Or you pay for the tickets, I buy the food."

Taleis was feeling far more confident than he had in so long, and it felt great. He was shocked that it lasted so long, But he wasn't complaining at all, it was cool. It was great, actually. There was a spring in his step that was missing from before, and his confident smirk was finally back. Despite the fact that the confident person who had taken over Taleis was nothing like who he actually was, he felt more like himself than he had in a while, and it was great.

Aidan grinned at Taleis and his change in mood. He was glad he felt better, if just a little bit. "We should split the tickets and the food. We pay for own. Because food's a lot more than the tickets combined. It's crazy." His stomach did something weird when he saw Taleis smile. It was like... Sort of like he had to upheave, but at the same time not. And when he put his arm around Aidan's shoulder... Well, he wasn't sure if he actually need to find a toilet to puke in. It was weird; he'd only felt it once before, back in London. Whenever he saw who he thought to be the most beautiful girl in world, Katie Uhl (pronounced 'you'll'), his stomach did the same thing it did now.

But this was Taleis. He was straight. They both were. He figured it was just nerves from being in a big city. It had to be. He ignored it and kept walking.

Taleis grinned at Aidan before saying, "Sounds great to me!" He couldn't believe he had the confidence to throw his arm around Aidan's shoulder, much less keep it there. It felt nice, though. Taleis liked it. He liked the idea that maybe, just possibly, he could do that and just pretend that Aidan was his.

But he wasn't in the mood to let his thoughts bring him down, so he shoved them out of his head as he started scoping out fit girls who could make potential victims as they neared the theatre. He saw a pretty redhead who seemed to be about their age, walking towards the theatre with a group of friends. Then there was a blonde girl with her hair in a ponytail, who was wearing these ridiculous jeweled heels (although he would have been way too short without them), and several others. It had been a while since he had been around so many females who he was sure wouldn't end up hurting him if he broke their heart, especially seeing as they didn't even know where he lived.

He knew he'd just have to go with the boring stand them up and ignore their texts and calls, but Taleis was just glad that he'd be able to do something. It had been such a long time, and he felt like he needed to get back in practice. If he didn't, then he'd be clueless for when he finally got out of camp for good. Taleis knew he;d probably be spending most of his time after camp working crappy day jobs and spending his nights in a club, but that didn't really matter to him; not then, at least. Taleis was sure it would matter later, but why should he bother worrying about later?

Aidan followed Taleis' gaze, and smiled. He slowly took his arm off his shoulder and set it down at Taleis' side. He pat Taleis' shoulder and said, laughing, "Go get 'em. You can pay me back later," and left to the ticket booth. He looked at the times and the prices. Bloody hell, he thought, Eight dollars? For a two hour movie? Alright then.

As he was waiting in line behind a very nice couple, who talked to him a bit, one of the girls Taleis was looking at tapped him on the shoulder. He saw it was the short, blond one and smiled a bit. Before he could say anything, she went ahead and said, "What's your name? You're cute. You should call me some day." She grabbed his hand and wrote her phone number on the back of his hand in... Pink sharpie. Wasn't that interesting?

Aidan was taken aback. Not even camp girls (or at least, the ones he'd bothered to talk to) were that straightforward. He stammered a bit on his name, laughing a little bit. If he had to be completely honest, she was kind of cute!

Taleis had decided he would try and get the redhead's name and number, and it was working smoothly. He found out her name was Maria, and she was currently single. Since Maria was crazy into art, they had said they'd go to the Metropolitan, a place Taleis had only heard of. He was almost tempted to actually go, but he was sure he wouldn't end up going.

Then Taleis glanced over at Aidan and saw the blonde girl he was looking at earlier talking to Aidan. She was obviously flirting with him, judging from the way she was standing so close to him and she was writing on his hand, probably her number. Then there was the fact that Aidan was blushing.

Taleis could feel the happiness being drained from him. He still kept a smile on his face, even though it was fake. He didn't lose his confidence, either, which Taleis considered to be a very lucky thing. He didn't want to be left looking like he didn't want to be there, because that would suck.

After making small talk for a few minutes, Maria said that she and her friends had to go get their tickets. Taleis, wanting to make her think of him as a gentleman, took her hand and kissed it before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow at three, love," and gave her a slight smirk before walking off. He could hear Maria and her friends squealing and mentioning something about how 'kind and totally hot he was' and how 'British guys were soooooooo much nicer than American guys. He made a mental note that he would have to visit New York City more.

Taleis didn't want to walk over to Aidan just then. He didn't want to interrupt on his time with the blonde beauty, so he just stood awkwardly by the door as he waited for Aidan. Taleis couldn't help but feel his blood boil when he looked at the two of them talking, the blush on Aidan's cheeks as she wrote her number on his hand. Shoving his hands behind his back, he clenched them into fists and closed his eyes tightly, thinking to himself, 'There's no way it can be a long-term thing between them. She lives in New York City, and Aidan lives at Camp. It's not possible for them to have a long term thing.

So Taleis opened his eyes and unclenched his fists, letting his confident smirk fall back onto his face. He noticed Maria walking into the theatre, and she waved to him before she went inside. Taleis smiled and waved back to her, and she appeared to giggle before walking in. The blush on her face was obvious.

The girl went on, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "My name's Julia. I like the ocean and loud music and I'm easy to shop for. I love Japanese food, and the ideal first date would be dinner and a movie. And since we're already here..." she giggled.

Aidan let out a nervous laugh. "As much as I would love to hang out with you today, I can't. But, um, I'll try to keep in touch, alright? I'm really sorry! I'm just really busy today!" Aidan said, genuinely. He did want to keep talking to her, but he didn't exactly have time to go out on dates.

He turned the other way, and bought two tickets to The Avengers.

Taleis found himself hating the blonde more and more by the second. The way she flipped her hair so flirtatiously, the way she seemed to lean so close to Aidan when she spoke. He wanted to walk over to her, grab her by the shoulders, and scream at her, "Can't you see he's mine?"

Of course, Taleis couldn't do that. Aidan wasn't his, not yet. Probably not ever. But he hoped, he always hoped. If he couldn't hope, then where would he be? What would he do if he didn't have his dreams and whatnot? They were all that kept him going by this point.

Now Taleis wanted to yank her hair out. She obviously just giggled, and Taleis hated that she could flirt with him, but Taleis could never flirt with Aidan or anything. Aidan was straight, and his best friend. Best friends don't do that, unless it's a joke.

Taleis couldn't help but smirk when he saw Aidan turn the other way. Knowing Aidan, he probably didn't mean it in a rude way. Still, Taleis could dream, and he would dream as much as he wanted. In his mind, Aidan turned her down, saying that there was someone else, but he just didn't know how to tell them. Taleis smiled a bit, but he told himself that he had to stop daydreaming like that. In public, at least.

Aidan placed the tickets and his change into his pocket and leaned against the wall by the overly decorated doors. In fact, everything in New York seemed to be overly decorated. Even the McDonalds had a million lights and a crazy theme. Perfect for attention needing theatre kids with big dreams. Not too perfect for an Aidan.

But he also kind of enjoyed it. Everyone loved him since kindergarten. He never had drama, and didn't really want it. But everyone sort of included him in everything. But here, nobody paid attention to him besides Taleis and Julia. He loved being ignored!

Looking back at Julia, he waved and held up his hand, mouthing, "I'll call you," though he knew of no way he could gain access to a phone. Everyone at camp told him to never, EVER get a cell phone. Pretty simple. Julia nodded, smiling, and he smiled back. As cute as she was, she was pretty annoying, when he got down to it.

Aidan looked over at Taleis, who was still smiling. His stomach did that weird barfy thing again. He was confused on why. He was feeling pretty calm, just amazed at the city. So it wasn't nerves, that was certain.

"So, we're going in, then?" Taleis said, looking at Aidan. He couldn't help but feel smug as the girl walked away. Taleis would be able to see Aidan everyday, but she probably would never see him again. It was an awesome feeling, knowing this, because Taleis could kind of pretend that he had better chances against her. Even though Aidan was straight, even though he probably would never fall of his best friend like Taleis did, he still could pretend he had better chances than a girl, because he saw Aidan more. He knew everything about Aidan, they were friends since they were ten.

"Do you want me to pay you back for the tickets now, or are you going to force me to buy you food or a favour or something?" Taleis asked, because he was kind of curious what Aidan meant by 'you can pay me back later'. It had meant different things different times, and he just wasn't exactly sure.

There had been times when someone had told Taleis that he could pay them back, and it turned out that they meant something like having him tell their girlfriend that they were breaking up with her. Taleis could do that, yeah, but it was awkward. He preferred to break the hearts of someone who he had personally gone out with, not someone who his friend had gone out with.

Aidan shook his head, causing his hair to go all over. "Nah, you just owe me a favour. But you're still paying for your own food," he smiled, opening the door. The door was heavy, too.

He couldn't help but notice how many shades of brown Taleis' curls had in the sun. They almost looked golden. He shook his head a bit in disbelief. Aidan, he told himself, you're straight. Straight guys don't notice how sexy their best friend is. Much less their best friend.

Either way, he had to admit Taleis was attractive. Of course he was. He had girls falling at his feet. But he and Taleis were straighter than a pencil. A wood pencil. Not one of those rubber pencils. Those really suck when you try to write with them. Aidan fixed his hair with his open hand.

Taleis chuckled and said, "Just so you know in advance, I'm not breaking up with anyone for you. Or going on a date in your place. Deal?" There was a jovial tone to Taleis' voice, though.

Taleis could feel his happiness returning as he walked through the doors to the theatre. He wasn't sure why, but he was almost positive it had something to do with the blonde girl finally being gone. Taleis almost laughed when he thought of how much like a possessive girlfriend he was acting, and how Aidan would react if he knew. Let's just pretend that he wouldn't slap Taleis in the face for feeling those things.

It felt good to finally be able to grin and laugh after feeling so faded for so long. It was almost like Taleis was a sculpture that was out in the sunlight and he had finally been repainted. He knew it was an odd analogy, but he didn't care. What did it matter, anyways? Taleis was a weird person, although not many people knew that. There weren't many people who Taleis could trust with that information.

When Taleis thought about it like that, it made it seem like he was some super secret soy who was going undercover as a British teenage boy. It was pretty funny, too. He didn't know why he was finding so many things so funny now. Maybe it was because he finally had the time to look back at how odd he truly was, seeing as he was finally back to his 'normal' personality.

Taleis really didn't know which personality was normal for him anymore. There was his natural personality, and then there was the personality he liked to pretend was natural and he pretended to have most of the time. He hoped that normal classified as the one he had most of the time, because despite not having that personality most of the time for the past few years, he still had it more than his natural personality. Which was odd, considering that it was his natural personality and his other one was fake.

Taleis decided he would try and sort out his priorities later. They obviously had gotten a bit mixed up.

Aidan rolled his eyes, laughing. "Like I actually go out with people." He followed Taleis through the doors, and let it clatter behind him. It was true, though. A lot of girls who went out with Taleis went after Aidan. They asked him out, hit on him, smacked his butt this one time, but he never could say yes completely. Or no. He just wasn't the kind of guy who went out on dates. What were you supposed to do on a date? Those girls were... soft, he couldn't have a Nerf gun fight with them, right? Would he have to get all dressed up? Take them to a restaurant? It was just too complicated to try to figure out a girl.

The inside of the theater was large. There was an arcade to their right, and concessions on their left. Ahead was the usher. It was almost as lighted as the outside was. There were lights on the ceiling, lights on signs, lights from the games. It was almost terrifying. New York, he thought, you are amazing.

As he saw the "Now Seating" light by the Avengers sign turn on, he turned to the concessions. He pulled the five dollars he got in change and the other twenty he had out of his pocket and estimated how much candy he needed for the movie. If it was a two hour movie, and he ate some during previews, he could have a medium popcorn, large soda and three boxes of Sour Punch. Maybe a container of Dibs.

As he did the math on his arm with magic marker, he noticed several people smiling at him. And at Taleis. He saw one mouth, "It's okay," and he got confused. What's okay? He shrugged to himself and finished the adding. Why did food have to cost so much?

"Dude, hurry up. I want to get my food," Taleis said, bouncing on his feet. Besides, everyone was kind of freaking him out, the way they looked at him and Aidan. And then there was that one person who mouthed, "It's okay," and that just kind of freaked Taleis out. He didn't understand what she meant, or why anyone was smiling at them, and, all in all, it kind of freaked him out. He had never gotten attention like that before, and it was weird. He didn't really think he liked it.

"Uh, is it just me, or is everyone acting really, really strange?" Taleis asked Aidan. He didn't know if that was normal for New York City or what, but he definitely was feeling uncomfortable about it. All they were doing was going to see a movie. Two friends, going to see a movie together. What about that got smiles from strangers?

Then Taleis realized why. He was pretty sure it was about when he over heard someone whispering awfully loudly to his friend, "Dude, look at those two f**s over there." They all thought - oh gods, they thought he and Aidan were going out.

Now, Taleis was in no place to judge. Yeah, he fancied Aidan. The thought of actually going out with Aidan made him ecstatic. Still, he doubted Aidan would be comfortable with it. So what about Aidan's comment about not dating girls earlier? he seemed pretty interested in Blondie earlier, and Taleis was pretty sure - no, positive - that Aidan was straight. There was no way Aidan could be happy.

Aidan shrugged, though it did freak it him out. He rolled his sleeve down. "Just ignore them. They don't get how fabulous we are," He dramatically flipped his hair. It worried him a little, however. He could admit that he had some... feminine qualities. Watching musicals, being obsessed with his hair, his obsession with British boy bands, but he never thought he would look like he did any of that.

"Just, uh, yeah, let's buy our food."Aidan stepped up to the counter and asked for a medium popcorn, a large soda, one box of Raisinettes, one box of red Sour Punch, one box of Crunch Bites, whatever those were, and a little box of Dibs. He rested his head on his elbow, which was on the counter and waited for Taleis to order.

Did he really look happy? He was straight. Maybe he found boys attractive, but it's okay to think someone looks good, right? It wasn't like he would date a guy. Maybe as a joke, sure, he would go out with a friend, but never for real. He groaned inwardly. Sometimes people were so stupid.

He handed over the money for his food over to the cashier. She gave him his two penny change and he placed it in his pocket. He looked over Taleis. He.. he wasn't happy. But, maybe he was for Taleis. Maybe it was just hormones. Yeah, it's hormones. It must be. But no matter what it was, he couldn't deny that Taleis was, well, handsome. With his curls that seemed to fall perfectly, his white teeth, and lean waist... What?

Aidan hoped his emotions didn't show too bad on his face. He straightened up and fixed the little piece of hair that popped up.

Taleis snorted slightly and Aidan's comment on how 'fabulous they were'. "Yes, because every guy wants to be called fabulous. Thank you, Aidan." There was an obvious sarcastic tone to his voice, almost overly so.

Taleis couldn't deny the fact that Aidan was good looking, and yes, he did look kind of feminine. But that didn't mean that Aidan had to like guys. So what he cared about his hair a bit more than normal? So what he liked watching musicals? So what he listened to boy bands? That didn't mean anything.

When Aidan had finished ordering, Taleis ordered himself a small popcorn, something he saw called Airheads Extremes that looked good, and a medium Coke slushee. He wasn't really all the hungry, anyways, but he didn't want to be the person who stole their friend's food because they didn't have any. Taleis hated those people.

Once he paid for his food, he turned to Aidan. "Ready to go in?" he asked. His heart did that fluttery thing again, and he kind of wanted to punch himself in the face. he didn't like how soft and tended it made him feel, because it made him feel, well, weak. He didn't like it. He had always been the one making other peoples' hearts flutter, nobody had ever had that effect on him. Well, Kassidy did, but Taleis didn't like to think of that.

He would be lying if he said Aidan didn't have an enormous effect on him. Sometimes he found it difficult to breath, and then there was his whole attitude change. The only person who he could be himself around was Aidan. The only person who he could ever talk to about his problems was Aidan. Forget problems, Aidan was pretty much the only person Taleis could talk to and also have a normal conversation.

"Uh, yeah, let's go!" Aidan cheered, and walked up to the usher. He handed him the tickets and the usher handed back the stubs. "Sixteen to your right," he smiled, and pointed over his shoulder. Aidan thanked him and made his way to the theater.

Fifteen... Three... Sixteen! Aidan opened the door, and stepped into the dim theater. He was surprised at how full it was. He found some seats on the third row to the top, by the aisle. They were decent seats, though not perfect. He sat down, setting his candy on the arm rest, and the cup in the cup holder. Maybe he did buy too much. Well, he could share with strangers, couldn't he?

On the screen was a preview for Snow White or something. It didn't look too exciting. But if they got money, good for them. Aidan was still thinking about the incident in the lobby. Well, it wasn't really an incident, but it affected him.

Taleis could tell that Aidan was still thinking about the stuff from earlier, it was obvious from the look on his face. Or at least, it was obvious to Taleis. It was almost creepy how easily he could read Aidan. He guessed it came with knowing someone for seven years and spending a ton of your time with them.

"Hey, forget about what that guy said, okay? Why does it matter what he thinks?" Taleis said softly to Aidan. He hated seeing his friend so affected by something that someone said. It just wasn't tight. Aidan was the happier of the two, and yeah, he still had his moments when he felt worse than normal. Still, Taleis didn't like it when Aidan was feeling down. It made everything just feel...off.

A grin spread across Aidan's face, though fake. It felt weird, fake smiling. Most of the time, his smiles were genuine, because he was actually feeling happy. He wasn't even sure he was doing it right. "Yeah, it doesn't matter," he agreed. Because it didn't, did it? Except it did. He was ready to admit he was confused. The facts all point to flaming homosexual. Except he still found girls fun to be around, to date, maybe.

Aidan felt... warm at what Taleis said. It was just his voice that made his heart flutter, his palms sweat, and stomach turn. Taleis' voice was deep, and calming, but you could detect more than that. There was something about it that made Aidan rest his head on his shoulder.

"Tal?" he whispered, but the movie had started, and he decided to shut his mouth until it was done. He stuck a few pieces of buttery popcorn into his mouth.

Taleis sighed slightly, because he knew that Aidan would keep thinking about it. Yeah, he'd grin and say everything was fine, but it wasn't. Taleis knew that. He understood that people tended to think about things.

When Taleis felt Aidan rest his head on his shoulder, well, he could feel his stomach fluttering. He almost wanted to wrap an arm around Aidan, but he didn't. He wished he could, he wished that it was okay, but he knew that it wasn't an okay thing to do. Not for friends, at least. Nor was running your fingers through your friend's hair, or randomly grabbing their hand.

As the movie started, Taleis heard Aidan whisper his nickname. He knew the movie was starting and that other people would probably be irritated, but he couldn't help but be curious as to what Aidan wanted or wanted to tell him. "Yeah, Aidan?" he whispered back, resisting the urge to run his fingers through his friend's hair.

Taleis found himself having trouble paying attention to the movie. It was a difficult thing to do when the person you had fancied for about two years had their head resting on your shoulder. Not that Taleis had anything wrong with that. No, of course he didn't. He loved the way it felt, the way Aidan's hair gently brushed the skin of his neck. It was just slightly distracting. Well, alright, really distracting, but still.

Aidan wanted to pretend like he didn't hear Taleis. It was Aidan's mistake to start talking right when the movie started. If he answered Taleis, he would annoy everyone else trying to watch the movie. He, himself was trying to watch the movie. But it was hard when all he could think of was whether he was happy or not.

He slowly lifted his head off of Taleis' shoulder, but made it seem like it was a casual 'need a drink' thing. Or at least, he tried. He looked at the Taleis and said, "Tell you in a sec, when it gets louder," smiling a little bit. He wasn't sure why, exactly, he smiled, but it made him feel better.

Aidan had a plan. People had used it before, so it could work. Of course, when other people did it, it was something more explicit, and he had no desire to do that with Taleis. But he figured he would maybe try to kiss Taleis, and if he liked it, he was happy, if he didn't like it, he was straight. Seemed simple enough.

Taleis couldn't help but feel disappointed as Aidan lifted his head off of his shoulder. The weight was almost comforting. Still, he nodded to his friend's request, hoping he'd put his head back on his shoulder. He could understand why he'd want to wait until it was louder, then it would be more difficult for people to hear them.

Taleis tried to keep his eyes glues to the screen, but he did sneak glances at his friend every now and then. It was nearly impossible for him not to, especially with the specific lighting. It made Aidan look different, yeah, but in a good way. In a kind of beautiful way that made his heart ache, which in turn made him question not only his sexuality, but his manliness.

He also was curious as to what Aidan wanted to tell him. It was difficult to tell, and he kept hoping he might get clues from his face or something. He got nothing, though. He was no Sherlock Holmes. He was no master of deduction. He was just Taleis, and he couldn't read people's minds by glancing at them.

As the fighting began to commence, Aidan thought, 'Okay, it's now or never.' When he came up with the idea, he was feeling pretty confident about it. But as he thought about it more, he decided it wasn't too great an idea. But, he was in too deep already.

Aidan turned Taleis' head to face him, and swallowed hard. He didn't think it would be that difficult. Especially if he was straight. "Just... Don't hate me for this, okay?" he choked out. His palms were sweating again, and he felt like his heart was beating so hard, it would come right out of his chest and take the insides of him with it. He licked his lips a little bit and brought their faces together.

Their lips met, and it was like fireworks. Taleis' lips were soft and seemed to fit Aidan's perfectly. He couldn't tear himself away.